Yesterday was AWESOME…and Christmas isn’t even over for us. We still will be traveling to MI to visit my folks for two more Christmas Celebrations!!

Yesterday we spent the day eating good food, watching movies and of course playing with all the new toys that my two sons got!! We still have a big play tent set up in the middle of the living room! Its been great!!

As promised I am posting the recipes from our Christmas Feast!! It was so yummy. We first had lunch which was our Christmas Primal Hors D’Oeuvres that I posted earlier in the week!

For dinner we had Cornish Game Hens stuffed with Sausage, Mushroom & Spinach Stuffing, Mashed Acorn Squash and Roasted Cauliflower!! It was AMAZING!!

Here are the Recipes:

Sausage, Mushroom & Spinach Stuffing

Ingredients :

1lb Pork Sausage

10-12oz Mushrooms

2 cups cooked spinach (I used frozen and microwaved it first)

1-2tbsp Butter

Salt & Pepper

Rosemary, Thyme, and Sage about 1 1/2 tsp each dry, or 1 tbsp each fresh

First brown Sausage in butter until crumbled and half-cooked, add mushroom and spices cook for about 3 minutes until sausage is cooked through; add spinach and mix in well. Some of the sausage stuffing will be stuffed inside each Cornish Game Hen, the rest can be put in a casserole dish and baked for 30 min next to Hens, or kept warm on stove or warmer drawer.

Cornish Game Hens

Ingredients :

1 Cornish Game Hen per person

2-3 tbsp Butter

Salt & Pepper

Garlic Powder, Thyme or I used Northwoods Seasoning from Penzey’s

Rinse and pat dry each Hen. In a roaster pan (big enough for the amount of hens you are baking) break up a couple of pads of butter into bottom of pan. Liberally season each Hen with Salt & Pepper and other spices, rub spices into skin. Stuff the cavity of each Hen with the Sausage, Mushroom & Spinach Stuffing. Place Hens on top of butter in roaster pan. Bake the Hens in a 350 oven for about 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Bast the Cornish Game Hens with the juices in pan frequently during cooking. If you want to brown the birds well, turn oven up to 400 for the last ten minutes. Check temp when done, should be between 165-175 for poultry! Let rest for about 10 minutes after taking out of oven.

Mashed Acorn Squash

Ingredients :

2 Acorn Squash (or 1 butternut squash)

1-2 tbsp Maple Syrup

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 tsp Cinnamon

Cut Squash in half and scoop out seeds. Place the squash cut side down on a cookie sheet and roast in 350 oven (along side the Hens) for about 40-45 min. Let cool for a few minutes before handling. Scoop out flesh of squash into your serving bowl. Add cinnamon, maple syrup and vanilla and mix well. Serve warm!

Roasted Cauliflower

Ingredients:

1-2 heads of Cauliflower (depends on how many folks you are feeding!)

Salt & Pepper

Olive Oil

Cut Cauliflower into bit sized pieces. Place on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Roast in oven for about 20-30 minutes. (I put them in the oven when I took the squash out. I also basted the cauliflower with some of the juices from the Hens roasting pan) Serve with some melted butter.

I hope that you enjoy making this meal. The side dishes can be made any time with any other main dish meat. Cornish Game Hens are usually a special thing for us like at Christmas or Easter, but really they could be made any time. Just like roasting a chicken, but more fun cause each person gets to have their own bird on their plate….its feels very primal to be picking apart you very own little bird at dinner! LOL

ENJOY!!!!!!!!

ps…..let me know what you think!